Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 308

Review: THE BASEMENT by Chad Brown

Heather goes into a basement, where a murder/suicide took place, on a dare to prove to her friends that she wasn’t “chicken.” And, of course, she gets locked inside, trapped in the house.
Going down the basement stairs suddenly brought back bad childhood memories of her mother. This short tale was more about the horror of the subconscious rather than the monstrous (although there is a monster in it.) A quick, gripping, and decent read.

My rating: 3 stars

Review: THE BARN by Gabriel Beyers

Oh, my ears.The sounds I heard still haunt me unto this day.  Roars and screams; slashing and gurgling; the sound of scared men dying violently.  He did his work quickly, and for that I'm thankful.When a young man sneaks out of his house late one night to meet with his girlfriend in an abandoned barn, he soon finds himself trapped with a trio of gangsters and one unusual hit man.

This is a short story approximately 3,300 words long. The Barn is also included in the short story collection Contemplations of Dinner by Gabriel Beyers.



My thoughts:  Okay writing, but the story was “eh.”

I can’t really say much else because the story was so short that you got almost nothing out of it.
I read it in like 5 minutes.
My rating: 1 star

Review: WHITE NIGHT by Arabella Abbing

Alexis just lost her job right before Christmas. It was her first white Christmas in NY and she’d be spending it broke and alone.  After being mugged, her white knight shows up and saves the day…in more ways than one. Logan White becomes her savior, offering her a job to clean his house. His house was HUGE.


This story had the makings of a good, warm holiday romance. The two become fast friends, then they slowly become romantic. I thought it was a little slow. I liked how it all started, but then it tapered off once Alexis moved in the house. Writing was pretty good and, all in all, this was a decent winter romance.

My rating: 3 stars

Review: FILTHY SCROOGE by Taryn Quinn

First off, such a provocative image of a naked man on the cover. I mean, WOW!


Story starts off with Kay dirty dancing with Hot Mystery Guy. Then we find out that she owns and runs a party-planning company and her Santa for the big XMAS party just dropped out. Her client is the Scrooge and has no qualms of denying her payment if she doesn’t supply a Santa for his party…however, he does have a Santa suit, one he’d swore he’d never wear again. Still, he might be persuaded if she made the right tempting offer (btw, he was the Hot Mystery Guy on the dance floor.)
These were his terms: She must spend time with him in his cabin for two days. Deal! Of course, Scrooge intends to de-Christmas her in every way.


Kay is unsure about this. I mean, she hardly knows him. How could she have sold her virginity to this curmudgeon?


Story had lagging segments here and there. I was curious to find out why he hated Christmas so much. What was the even that shattered his jolly spirit? Of course, with Christmas being her favorite holiday, Kay aimed to put the HO-HO back in his stocking. And she’ll entice him in every way.


An okay holiday romp with the seasonal message of love and hope.


My rating: 3 stars

Review: HER BEST MISTAKE by Donna McDonald

Maybe other forty year old divorced women were different, but Lisa Dennison was not the kind of woman to climb into bed with every guy she dated. Actually, she should never have agreed to date younger man, Eric Roberts at all. She was flattered by the attention, but Eric never really interested her.




So a 40-year old woman goes to bed with a man, thinking he’s a “boyfriend” but, in actuality, is the man’s twin brother. Interesting complication.
Then she realized her mistake—she slept with the wrong man. Funny how she’s more turned on by the man’s brother than the man—that’s why it’s her best mistake.
A pretty good story!
My rating: 4 stars

Review: STRANDED by Noelle Stevens (Book 1)

Ashley is fresh out of college and ready to embark on a new life as a working adult. But then her car careens off the road in the middle of a terrible snow storm. Lucky for her, Colton Drake, the mysterious hottie, shows up and takes her to his cabin, where he nurses her sprained ankle and gives her a place to stay. Like the tile of the book indicates, the two are stranded.
Strictly in the POV of Ashley, the story slowly unravels the alluring mystery that is Colton Drake. The attraction she feels for his is tangible and irresistible.
The two manage to have fun playing in the snow and watching movies. A friendship blooms before romance envelopes them in a cozy embrace. I like that the sex didn’t go into too much detail. You can say a lot without having to actually say it.
Of course, no good love story would be without its complications, and that name is Rachel, Drake’s supposed girlfriend whom he states is not that serious. Can you blame Ashley for refusing to be Drake’s little play thing? Being that this was all in Ashley’s words, you naturally feel for her—how strongly she feels for Drake, how dumb she feels for falling hard and fast for him, and how determined she feels for forgetting about him.
The reader will want to root for Drake and Ashley, but will cheer more for Ashley’s fierce ambition and resolve to make it on her own. My only complaint was that it didn’t really have an ending, which prompts me to want to check out the next installment in the series to find out what happens.
Sweet and Simple. I absolutely love New Adult stories like this.

My rating: 4 stars

Review: HOLLY AND HER NAUGHTY E-READER by Julianne Spencer

Holly Pritchett is a high school English teacher by day, and avid reader by night. Romance, erotica, sci-fi, horror, and more, Holly's Kindle is packed with thousands of titles and she reads a new novel every day.

But when she returns to her hometown for her 10-year reunion and meets up with an old friend who dabbles in witchcraft, Holly's Kindle becomes much more than an eReader. No longer a passive observer to the many stories from the Amazon store, Holly becomes an active participant in the books on her Kindle, living the experiences of the characters.



My thoughts: This seemed fun to me because we all dream of living out the stories we read, but, sadly, I was disappointed.

Holly is a neurotic and obsessive character, who overanalyzes men and relationships. I guess that’s why she comforts herself in make-believe fantasy crap like what you see in movies and books because there are a lot of references.
The character also seems to talk to the reader, blabbering on and on, not stopping for a single breath. She was like a broken record. Annoying!
And hearing her explain how her Kindle got broken was ridiculous. The fact that she blamed a guy from 10 years ago was stupid and immature. And that stupid farewell letter to her Kindle? Puh-leeze!
My rating: 1 star

Review: ANAMNESIS by J. Cal (Book 2)

Book 1 in this series ended with Mia’s memories being restored and her announcement that she “remembered it all.” However, that’s not where Book 2 picks up. I thought that’s where we would start. Instead, the beginning is a little confusing as various characters come in and out of the scenes. You’re almost lost as your mind fills with questions. Wasn’t Ethan dead? Where was Hugh? And who are all these other people? You’d think the restoration of Mia’s memories would make things more clear in Book 2, but it just made things more confusing.  But, apparently, we end up reliving Mia's memories to a year before that whole accident.

The author still gives us a well-written prose of a lost woman, and it's quite evident that you have to read the first book in order to get the second. The mystery is slowly unveiled towards the end when this strange case of amnesia is finally concluded. Although this book was not as good as the first, I would still praise this author for her impressive writing skills and her uncanny ability to weave a mysterious tale. 


My rating: 3 stars

Review: DISARRAY by J. Cal (Book 1)

A woman lost and confused. Another sleepwalking episode. But the episodes didn’t bring just dreams—it brought memories from before her car accident.


Ever since that accident, Mia has lost it all. In fact, she doesn’t even know her own husband. For months, she has suffered from this amnesia, struggling to get some semblance of her life back. But the dreams keep coming to her. What does the tattoo on her finger symbolize? What do the Chinese characters mean? What are the dreams telling her?


Her husband wants her to forget about the past and focus on their future, but Mia will not stop. It quickly becomes a tale of a woman’s desperate hunt for the memories she lost.  She aims to remember it all, even if it kills her.


Well-written and mysterious. Readers will question everyone’s motives behind wanting to keep Mia’s memories a secret. The whole military angle was slightly off-putting, making you wonder how it all ties in. The entire thing was disconcerting, but oddly compelling. Each seizure that Mia experienced gave her a memory surge, bringing her closer and closer to the truth. Strangers appear. Secrets are revealed. She gets closer and closer to the truth. Will the secrets shatter her world?


Story was just so full of twists and surprises—surprises that made you go, “WHOA, didn’t see that coming.” You just have to read it to believe it.


My rating: 5 stars

Review: SOME GIRLS DO by Amy Andrews (Book 1)

“To Friends with Benefits”—a toast made when Cooper first met Lacey at the bar one night, which led to much more. Imagine his astonishment when he finds out she’s only 19 and the little sister of one of his best friends. Yikes!

From the very beginning, Lacey becomes a handful with partying all night and meeting strange men. Fortunately for her, Coop is a good guy and loyal to his friends. A wrench is thrown in the mix when Lacey returns home with a fake pregnancy, and, of course, Coop being the nice guy that he is, volunteers to be the baby daddy. Now he must contend with a wild child (Lacey) and her four protective and intimidating brothers.
The sex scenes were wild, but the story had considerable lag. This was an okay read.

My rating: 3 stars